In Charitable Deduction Debate, Who Speaks for Charities? - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly

In Charitable Deduction Debate, Who Speaks for Charities? - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly: The Times article leaves readers with the mistaken impression that the Alliance for Charitable Reform speaks for charities and foundations. In reality, there are voices other than the Alliance speaking for charities. The Alliance is a project of the Philanthropy Roundtable, the association of politically conservative foundations chaired by Michael Grebe, the president and CEO of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. Consistently opposing President Obama’s charitable deduction proposals but feeling no warmth toward the Republican position of establishing a dollar cap on the total amount of deductions, the Alliance is no fan of increasing the top tax rates on the rich. As ideological conservatives, the Alliance—and the Roundtable—tend to oppose federal government initiatives (such as what they describe as the “costly” national health reform initiative) in favor of reducing federal spending, emphasizing more reliance on voluntary charitable action, albeit supported by an uncapped charitable deduction.